A large lesson from a thin mint

Oklahoma City’s mean streets of business development are no place for the meek. It’s tooth and nail. Scratch and claw. Survival of the fittest.

Girl Scout Chandler Kessler

Still, when Chandler Kessler loses out on a sale, “it makes me sad,” she admits. But she doesn’t take it personally.

“I know not everyone likes cookies like I do.”

This week, as Girl Scouts across Oklahoma launch their annual fundraiser, young ladies like Chandler – a lanky, pig-tailed fifth grader at Wilson Elementary – are getting early lessons on the basics of business.

Whether it’s making sales presentations, raising money for charity or calling on a prospective client, adults who knocked on doors as kids say the experience is helpful.

“You reap what you sow,” says Rhett Laubach, a professional public speaker who, like many kids in rural Oklahoma, sold Blue and Gold Sausage as an FFA member. “The harder and smarter you work, the more results you see.”

It also taught him the value of networking.

“It’s not always what you know or who you know,” he says. “It’s how you treat other people. When you treat people even better than they deserve, it makes selling something more successful.”

Several members of our firm got their start selling taffy, wrapping paper, chocolates or whatever else it took to get to summer camp. No surprise – some of our best business developers were once miniature salespeople.

“When I was a kid, we did a fundraiser for our band,” says Aaron Fulkerson, who runs our management consulting division. “We were selling some type of Hickory Farms cheeses or something. I went door to door in my neighborhood and sold my little heart out.”

Of course, the salesmanship is only one of the benefits. It’s also great PR for the organization. Every box of cookies sold is another opportunity to tell the Girl Scout story.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article about how the Girl Scouts have trimmed their product line – their top five varieties make up 77 percent of all sales, which is another business lesson – one parent said, “She’s selling more than cookies. She’s selling people’s impressions of Girl Scouts.”

If you’re Chandler Kessler, you’re also selling happiness.

“I love to raise money for our troop,” she says. “And I love watching the joy on people’s face when we give them cookies.”

Have you seen the pumpkins of all shapes and sizes being unloaded and arranged at the Myriad Botanical Gardens? The Myriad Gardens Foundation is preparing for the sixth annual Pumpkinville, which will take place Oct. 6-22 at the park.